when driving with the childrens, we play the skip game while listening to the radio.

Everyone has one skip, and can skip any song, but after they have used their skip, they have to wait until everyone else has used their skip. (We automatically skip talking or commercials.) The childrens are learning to only skip a really really bad song, because you might get stuck with Def Leppard, “bringin’ on the heartbreak” and your father is singing along to all the guitar parts. Loudly.

Drove to and fro Spokane this weekend. Mostly, MyBetterHalf drives, and thus has her phone to provide music. I drove the small car (MyBetterHalf left earlier with MrG and MsS) with MrC there, and drove solo back. The solo drive, is actually the first time I have driven across the state by myself. It was nice. I controlled the radio. I controlled the rest stops (staring at the Columbia before Vantage, two fruit stands, the Historic Thorp Mill, Blue Heron Park at Moses Lake) . A little R&R!!

speaking of radio, in the middle of the state. On the plus side, there weren’t too many commercials or dumb DJs trying to be funny. On the other hand, there was preaching, there was country music, there was Spanish radio, there was Spanish-preaching…. I heard a nice bit of a sermon, twice. Female pastor, “I was in the store with my young children and someone asked “are they all yours” and I thought “Who brings extra toddlers to the store??!!??” Her sermon was about when we choose entertainment, we are choosing not something else, uh…more time spent with kids. (Also, these days, everyone has their own entertainment, and don’t have a common time together – ESPN can vouch for that!) Heard a sermon about Jonah: God still had a plan for Jonah, a plan delayed is not a plan denied. And talent isn’t most important, obedience is. Heard a Catholic apologist (weird, I thought only protestants did that), his interpretation of baptism of children – Baptism is the new circumcision and faith by one can bring gifts to another (ex: Centurian’s daughter healed). Heard some NPR… segment about disabilities, and how a hundred years ago, many of us with bad vision would be disabled.

…but Song-of-the-Now goes to one that i’ve known for a bit, and I liked, but it got upgraded to Song-of-the-Now because MrCuddles was enthusiastically and loudly singing the chorus: Alice Merton “No Roots”

My BFF from High School and I were at a party once in college, (he was visiting Seattle). A new song, by a new girl group, “Baby-Baby-Baby” was on. I said some disparaging remark, and he told me “Shut up. Listen.”

After picking up MsS and MrC from gymnastics, because I’m an old dad, I was blasting music from my childhood. The beautiful “Waterfalls” by TLC. MsS wanted radio. MrC said he loves the song. (He also said, “I don’t like songs with music” when I asked for clarification, he doesn’t like instrumentals, he likes songs.)

Sunday – friends visited, we fed them burgers and hotdogs. I and another dad escorted them to TwinPonds, where most of them played soccer, but MsS and her friends went off to hangout by a stream, and get their shoes (or cast!) all muddy.

Monday – Memorial Day

We went to a Memorial Day service at a local cemetery. The weather was beautiful. The childrens didn’t really want to be there, I tried to tell them “it’s a little like church, and will be about an hour”. That didn’t improve their moods.

Back during Gulf War … for awhile I watched PBS, every night, and they would have a “roll call of the fallen”, and a few moments of silence for each service person who died in active duty, their rank and age. I don’t know which made me more sad. The eighteen year old kids who were killed in combat. Or the 34 year olds, wondering if they were leaving behind little children. At the Memorial Day service I saw a woman with alone with two young children, and I wondered if her husband died protecting America.

Please take this time to listen to Kate Tempest’s “War Music at Tongue Fu”

After we, and MrG’s BoyScout Den, visited Paul Allen’s museum of WW2 planes up in Everett. Fascinating and interesting machines, which is cool, that were built to kill people, which I kept thinking about. There was a room dedicated to the question of “Why War?” Which was great. Back when I was a kid, it was simple, we fight the bad guys, because we are the good guys. In only eight years our BoyScouts will be old enough to enlist.

Me and MrG play a bit of Madden, we’re in the same league and my team is, on paper at least, about 10 stronger than his. We finally matched up against each other in a league tournament. For some reason, I threw two interceptions. He tried to capitalize, but only could get two field goals. His last chance, he played careful, and got a third field goal and was so very happy, loudly laughing and dancing around his room.

MrCuddles and I had a nice afternoon while the rest of the family was at the park. He said he was getting tired, and wanted to go lay down in parents bed, I took a book down there. After a few minutes, he ran off to get five books so he could read too.

…and second place is Maroon 5’s “Don’t wanna know“, and I liked it before I even saw the video, with sad lyrics, melancholic melody, but a beat you can dance to. Recently saw on theFaceBook a “post a gif that matches your mood”…and that song was in my head. I looked for a gif for the song, and discovered hilarious giant costumed characters running around. Yup. Matched my mood.

But, winner of GBAtT’s Song-of-the-Now award goes to Imagine Dragons “Believer“. I dunno why I like it so, but lyrics like “third things third” and “last things last” sure help. (I just saw the vid, it’s not my cup of tea.)

I love that Soundgarden took noise, and made something beautiful. Feedback, rumbling bass, out of tune guitar, dissonant guitar riffs, screaming & screeching vocals… all those ugly pieces, into wonderful music. I heard they used a lot of non-standard time signatures, but I never noticed it, and I appreciate that, if the audience notices something complicated your doing, you’re doing it wrong. (Aaron Copeland is like this, very easy to listen to, very difficult to play.)

I tried to take the childrens to the Soundgarden at NOAA recently. It was closed. That place was cool. If you were lucky enuff to be there when the winds were blowing just right, you would be surrounded by haunting beautiful noise.